Building output using the dita command

You can generate output using the DITA Open Toolkit dita command-line tool. Build
parameters can be specified on the command line or with .properties files.

Procedure

At the command-line prompt, enter the following command:

dita-ot-dir/bin/dita-inputinput-file-formatformatoptions

where:

dita-ot-dir is the DITA-OT installation directory.

input-file is the DITA map or DITA file that you want to process.

format is the output format (transformation type). Use the
same values available for the transtype build parameter, for example,
html5 or pdf.

options include the following optional build parameters:

-o, -outputdir

Specifies the path of the output directory; the path can be
absolute or relative to the current directory. By default, the output is written to the
out subdirectory of the current directory.

-filterfile

Specifies a filter file to be used to include, exclude, or flag content.

-t, -tempdir

Specifies the location of the temporary directory.

-v, -verbose

Verbose logging.

-d, -debug

Debug logging.

-l, -logfilefile

Write logging messages to a file.

-Dparameter=value

Specify a value for a DITA-OT or Ant build parameter.

Parameters not implemented by
the specified transformation type or referenced in a .properties
file are ignored.

Tip: If you are building in different environments where the location of the input
files is not consistent, set args.input.dir with the dita command and
reference its value with ${args.input.dir} in your .properties
file.

-propertyfilefile

Use build parameters defined in the referenced .properties file.

Build parameters specified on the command line override those set in the
.properties file.

If processing is successful, nothing is printed in the terminal window. The built output is written to the
specified output directory (by default, in the out subdirectory of the current
directory).

Tip: Add the absolute path for dita-ot-dir/bin to the PATH environment variable to run the
dita command from any location on the file system without typing the path.

What to do next

Usually, you will want to specify a set of reusable build parameters in a
.properties file.

Setting build parameters with .properties filesUsually, DITA builds require setting a number of parameters that do not change frequently. You can reference a set of build parameters defined in a .properties file when building output with the dita command. If needed, you can override any parameter by specifying it explicitly as an argument to the dita command.